Unions target Fortune 500 firms over wage talks (2)

07:59, August 20, 2012

Labor: Unions seeking support

Some Fortune 500 companies set up branches in various locations in China and there can be problems in these situations with wage bargaining, either through management structure or slow communication with headquarters.

"Fortune 500 companies that have not set up their overseas headquarters in China can sometimes make approval of a collective contract even harder," Zhang said.

Lack of capable union leaders had also hampered introducing collective negotiations to more companies, he said.

Zhang said his federation and local union organizations will try to get more support from governments, especially on regulations, and will also try to boost collective negotiations as well as coordination among workers, employers and unions.

Currently there is no law requiring companies to sign collective contracts with employees. He said his organization will push the top legislature and the central government to amend laws so that they spell out negotiating procedures and punishments for violators.